A Genuine Smile
by WhatChuuKnowBoutMe
Summary: "They were planning this for weeks, which is why they were so secretive. You thought they were excluding you, right? The truth is, they really care about you." And Kakashi left in a puff of smoke. Team 7 story.


**Okay, so who's read my other story "A Genuine Smile"? Well, I guess you can all call this a more in depth version. It's like a version II. I think this story actually stands on its own. I'll explain at the bottom… Read and enjoy ^^**

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_**A Genuine Smile.**_

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_**.:: Part One ::.**_

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Naruto and Sakura sat on the bridge that team 7 used to meet, waiting for their Never-on-time perverted sensei Kakashi and fellow team mate Sai.

The scene of the two looked very suspicious. Naruto and Sakura were huddled together leaning against the rails of the bridge whispering amongst themselves, occasionally glancing around to see if anyone was near.

"So do you have the stuff, Naruto?"

"Yeah, they're in my bag. Wait, I'll give it to you now."

"No, not yet. Give it to me later when we can be sure no-one—"

"Yo Hag, Dickless." The duo both tensed and sprung away from each other immediately. The appearance of their other team mate seemed to have shocked them and from the nervous looks on their faces, Sai could tell that they were up to something.

He considered the three of them to be quite close with each other now, so he couldn't help but feel left out when they didn't include him in certain stuff.

Over the past year, since they had met, Team Kakashi had helped him understand feelings a bit more. He still struggled in deciphering different emotions— just not as much.

After constant complaining from his team (Especially Sakura) Sai decided to get rid of the books he was reading. Because apparently he needed to _Study emotions through experience, Shannaro! _(Courtesy of Sakura, too)

Although he still stuck to the nicknames he had given them from the start. Said their names _Fit perfectly._

Sakura and Naruto knew better though. Because even though Sai never admitted it, those names held memories for the artist, which was the only reason they let him continue calling them those "affectionate" names.

"Uh, hey Sai!"

"Good morning, Sai!"

Their greeting seemed far too cheery for the boy— even for the loud mouths of the team. It didn't go unnoticed by Sai that they sent each other nervous glances, either.

"… Yeah, morning."

Sai sometimes wished however, that he couldn't feel anything as before. That he was still ignorant to emotions and feeling them. Because right now, there was this annoying tug in his chest.

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After being dismissed from training, they were all ready to part their own separate ways.

Kakashi left in a puff of smoke, presumably off somewhere quiet to read his dirty book.

"Well~ I think I'll be going now." Sakura said, shooting a pointed look at Naruto. Said boy didn't miss it, but neither did Sai.

'_Wonder what they're up to…' _And there it was again! That annoying tug, but now it felt like it was being twisted as well. Agh!

"Bye, Sai!"

"Uh– yeah, later Sai— Wait for me, Sakura-chan!"

And before the dark haired boy could voice his thoughts, they were already gone. His eyes unconsciously lowered to the ground, slightly drooping.

"Bye…" He whispered to himself.

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The sun had set and the sky was starting to darken, while the stars were becoming more visible by the minute.

Sai sat quietly in the confines of his home. A brush hung loosely from his hand, draped limply over the chair. A blank canvas stood directly in front of the creative shinobi, who was at the moment, staring blankly back at it.

A frown covered his features with all the thoughts running in his head.

_'What's up with those two? Did I do or say something wrong? I can tell they were hiding something from me… Even Kakashi-senpai seemed to know something.'_

_**.::Flashback::.**_

"Sakura. Naruto, Aa—" Kakashi glanced briefly at Sai, who was sitting underneath a tree before turning back to the originals of his team, "You know that _thing_ we discussed, earlier?" He announced, immediately gaining their attention mid-spar.

"Uh, yeah Kaka-sensei?" Naruto replied for the both of them.

Sai's attention had already been on the scene, meaning he didn't miss the glance sent his way seconds earlier by Kakashi. His dark bangs however shaded his eyes, so his attention went unnoticed.

"Well, it seems that it's ready and it needs to be picked up, now. I need one of you to go get it and take it… Well," He glanced once more in Sai's direction over the top of his book, "You guys know where…"

Before Sakura or Naruto could reply, Sai decided to intervene.

"Um, Kakashi-sempai, it's not too much trouble for me to go in place of Naruto or Sakura. They're still sparring and I have free time, so—"

"Uh, no! It's okay, Sai. I'll go— you can spar with Naruto in my place, instead. Mmkay?" Sakura abruptly interfered. A nervous smile spread across her lips before she dashed off quickly, with Kakashi yelling after her to come back to the training grounds when the task was finished.

Sai narrowed his eyes before his head snapped to the side from impact of—

"Come on bastard! Dattebayo, I don't have all day! Let's fight!"

_**.::Flashback Ended::**__**.**_

Sai thought about the day's events. How Sakura and Naruto couldn't even look him in the eye when he showed up to the bridge. Kakashi's "discrete" glances from earlier.

It made him feel left out. Like he didn't belong—

_'Or maybe the answers that simple— they don't see me as one of them. All this time… Was it just me, all along? Was I the only one… Who thought we were— I guess so' _Sai chuckle brokenly to himself.

'_Yeah— I was never on__e of them in the first place. They're the originals and I'm… I'm the replacement. As soon as Sasuke-kun comes back, they'll have their team-mate back— their friend… And I'll… I'll be no-one to them__...'_

Sai winced as he groaned in the silence of his house. The paintbrush in his hand dropped to the floor with a light "tap" when he bolted upright in his chair, clutching his chest tightly. The canvas crashed to the floor accidently through the sudden movement.

An image of Sakura, Naruto and himself walking hand in hand disappeared in his mind– replaced with Sakura and Naruto letting go and walking ahead without him.

'_All along,' _He gasped loudly as he hunched over his knee's clutching his chest tighter, '_I was the only one…' _

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"You guys ready? I can't wait to see the look on his face~!" Sakura squealed excitedly, walking along the footpath with her two partners in crime.

"Hmm, everything's ready, right?" Kakashi asked next to her, face buried in his book.

"Yeah. Yamato-Sensei is doing the final touches right now— but, of course you would know that, if you had HELPED SET UP!" Naruto exclaimed, sending a glare along with Sakura towards their pervert of a sensei.

"Yeah— _actually_, what _did _you help with?" Sakura's glare increased and so did Naruto's.

Kakashi stopped mid-step when his two students rounded on him, looking at him expectantly.

"_Well_ Ka-ka-sen-sei?"

Wow, Naruto actually has an intimidating stare.

"Hey now, I prepared the cake, didn't I?" Kakashi's eye crinkled in victory—

"You bought it from the shop! Which _I _went to pick up today!" Sakura hissed.

"…Well, hn." And he continued on his pathway towards their destination. Sakura and Naruto both sighed to themselves before following in step.

"… You know," Sakura looked at her teacher from her peripheral vision, "You're really lucky we love you, right?"

Kakashi just spared her a glance from his book, his single visible eye crinkling in an _I know _ sort of manner.

"He's still a pervert, Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned, knowing he just deflated Kakashi's ego.

"I know." And Sakura grinned, knowing she just topped it off.

"Whatever," Kakashi brushed off their comments, albeit; grudgingly, "We're here."

Sakura squealed once again before racing up to the door of Sai's house; Naruto in tow. They were about to call out and knock, before their keen ninja senses picked up the sound of a groan, then thud.

"Sai!"

All three ninja rushed into his house frantically. Sharp gasps lead them to the room the artistic ninja was in.

Sakura threw a hand over her mouth before dashing to his side immediately. Her heart beat rapidly with worry.

Sai was hunched over slightly and his breathing was laboured. His shoulders were shaking and she was trying to get him to look at her. Naruto was on his other side, trying to do the same, while Kakashi was checking for any attackers.

"Sai?" Sakura whispered, "Are you okay?—Sai?" She shook him by his shoulders but he wouldn't respond, "Sai, what's wrong— Damn it, look at me!" Her voice grew desperate and his lack of response was starting to make her scared.

Kakashi walked back into the room, shaking his head to signal that there were no intruders. He looked at the dark headed boy in worry as well.

"Oi, Sai! What happened?" But he didn't respond to Naruto either.

Kakashi looked at Sakura, "Is there any injuries? Signs of genjutsu, maybe?"

Sakura shook her head, "No. There's none. I've already done a quick run over with my chakra. I— I don't know what's wrong…" Sakura turned back to the shaking boy. They couldn't see his face due to his arms being in the way.

His head was buried against his knees with one arm folded towards his chest. His other hand clung tightly to his hair and the three feared he would pull them from its roots.

They heard a muffled whimper beneath the quiet boys limbs and tensed

"Sai, please…" Sakura whispered desperately, "Look at me— tell me what's wrong…" She leaned her forehead on his shoulder gently.

Naruto– still on the other side of the boy, put a calming hand on his vacant shoulder while Kakashi looked on in worry, bringing up the rear of the trio. He placed a hand on the chair, leaning down as well.

It was quiet, but they waited for him. Sakura's medical skills were up to par with that of Shizune and even Tsunade's. Naruto and Kakashi had no doubt in their mind that Sakura was a capable medic— If she said that there was nothing physically wrong with him, then there wasn't.

It worried all three however, because then— what was wrong?

Their attention snapped up to the silent boy as he finally unshielded himself for them. Kakashi manoeuvred around them, coming to kneel next to Naruto.

"Sai!" The blonde yelled, relieved. His goofy grin faded however when he saw the tired and miserable look on said boys face. Sai sat up a bit straighter, yet not at full length. His elbows still leaned on his knees.

"Please, just… leave me alone…" He spoke so quietly, they almost weren't able to make out his words, "I'll continue to do missions with you all, until Sasuke-kun returns of course— but that's it. I don't want to see any of you, outside of missions."

"Wha— Sai?" Sakura frowned at him, bewildered.

"Please… stop acting like you care…" He smiled brokenly down at Sakura, and she felt like screaming by the absolute heartbreak in his eyes. They were sad and lonely and she didn't understand.

"Sai!" Naruto yelled. Like Sakura, he too could not understand the change in the ink Nin's mood.

Kakashi sighed.

Being the "great" observer of _look underneath the underneath _he already figured where this attitude came from.

"Listen—"

_SLAP_

Kakashi stopped talking as he and Naruto both stared at Sakura in shock. Sai's head was turned to the side, and he brought a hand shakily up to his red cheek. Even though Sakura never used chakra in that hit, all three men could feel the emotion she felt in that single slap.

"What the hell is wrong with you? How could you _say _that? What did we do, HUH? After everything that's happened? Doesn't it mean anything to you?" She yelled at Sai. He didn't look at her though, opting to remain quiet. She stood up with clenched hands by her side.

"What the hell did we do, HUH? What did we do, to make you shun us like that? Don't we mean ANYTHING to you? And how dare you say _stop acting like you care! _I've never pretended to care for you! I actually DO."

"Sakura—" Kakashi tried to intervene.

"No!," She growled, turning on him, "No Kakashi-sensei, he needs to hear this!"

Throughout this whole thing, Naruto stayed quiet. He felt like everything was turning into a disaster. Things were looking up that morning. He had been looking forward to tonight and now here he was, watching as everything took a turn for the worst.

"Sakura-chan—"

"NO, how could you," She turned back to Sai, "How could you throw our friendship away like that! Like it's NOTHING? Or did we mean nothing to you from the beginning? You mean a lot to us and you don't even care!" Her voice cracked in the midst of her yelling. Lips trembled as she opened her mouth to carry on then closed them. Her eyes began to water slightly.

Naruto walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against her temple, cooing her with a gentle 'shhhh'

Sai finally looked up at them, eyes wavering when he saw the expression on their face. He knew Sakura was mad by the sound of her voice, but her eyes showed something else. He felt even worse when she broke eye contact, as if she couldn't bear to look at him any longer.

He watched as she lowered her head and what she said before running off with Naruto chasing after her, shattered his heart.

_We came to pick you up because we set up a surprise gathering for today. It's been a year since we met you, right? But I guess you didn't know because we mean nothing to you, huh. If you never want to see us asides from missions and training, that's fine with me. You can count me gone from your life…_

"They've been planning this for weeks, which is why they were so secretive. You thought they were excluding you, right? The truth is, they really care about you." And Kakashi left in a puff of smoke.

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_**Part One: Complete**__**.**_**  
><strong>_**.**_

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_**Written By: **__WhatChuuKnowBoutMe_

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**For all of you who have read this before. The story's been edited and practically re-written, so that's why it'll seem familiar. It turned out longer than it originally is and more detailed so there's gonna be two parts, now. **

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_**Preview: **__**  
><strong>__"You'__re just like him, Sai-san"  
>"No, I'm not— Please, don't go Sakura."<em>_  
>.<em>

"_We never cared about you Sai!"  
><em>_Why…__  
>"Yeah, you were always a replacement for <em>_the Teme.__"  
>No…<br>"When my beloved student returns, we'll finally be rid of you."  
>Please…<br>._

"_Just leave us alone, Sai."_


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